to military veterans todayinindianapolis, vicepresident joe biden called the drawdown a milestone to be celebrated. >> drawing down our troops in iraq does not mean that we are disengaging from iraq. in fact, quite the opposite is true. we are in the process of falling on president bush's proposal for a long-term relationship. >> america's top general in iraq says that it would take a complete failure of iraqi forces to have the u.s. resume combat. >>> a hostage situation has left nine people dead. the shooter is a former policeman and was armed with an end-16 rifle. 15 people were held hostage during the 10-hour-long standoff. he killed eight people before he was shot dead. >>> thousands of people -- thousands of dead fish are found at the mouth of the mississippi river. officials are trying to figure out if the oil spill is responsible. in houston, there are hearings have begun on the oil spill. >>> it is back-to-school day for thousands of students in the metro area. for most of dc's 44,000 students, school began without a hitch. >> you cannot fix for 40 years of neglect in thr